Chirp Chirp~
'Tch, even the birds can be out...' Sora glanced out into the distance outside, watching the birds in the sky spread their wings and saw through the radiating heat.
It was a sunny day with the warm summer wind grazing against the grass fields. The mellow beam of sunlight flickered through the glass panels and Sora used her arm to cover her eyes from harm.
But the longer Sora continued to look out the window, the less she wanted to go out. The sun was radiating its heat way too much, too much for Sora to handle.
She changed her mind about what she just thought, thinking, 'nevermind, the sun's...eh'.
After staring out the window long enough, Sora returned back to her bed and face planted herself into a pillow, which 'poofed' up as she made contact with it. The fluffy feeling with its silky texture made Sora melt into the pillow, she hasn't touched such a soft thing in a long time.
Arien was suffering from 'too bored' syndrome. There was nothing to do in the place other than play with the toys provided, but they all were too boring for a 21 century person like Arien to play with.
She sighed and watched as her sister beside her was shoving her face deeper into the pillow. Arien chuckled at this, making her think how luxurious this whole place was.
'Nothing has happened since yesterday...' Arien recalled what yesterday's incident was. Her sister had presumably attacked the emperor and servants -Arien thought this cause she couldn't see or hear what happened, her face was in Sora's chest and she was covering her sight- making Arien shiver in fear thinking about what her sister could of done to cause their brother to fume in anger.
But after that, Sora just pulled the two of them back to their room and never spoke of that incident again, to Arien at least. Arien had no clue what truly happened and how gruesome it was. What Arien did know was that Sora had placed her to sleep once they got back to their rooms, humming a familiar tune as she tucked her in.
Arien flipped her body over, looking at her sister still having her face in the pillow. She blinked a few times, then sighed once more.
"Arjen, Sora." Arien, who was bored to the bone, decided to bother her siblings by asking a question.
"Yeah?"
"Mhm."
While Arjen gave a full on answer, Sora just hummed in response, being too lazy to give her sister an answer.
"Just how long do we have to stay in this room," Arien mumbled, moving her head a little more into the sheets of silk. "And with all those servants..." Arien glanced over at the maids and butlers all standing there in a line, not moving an inch and just standing there... creepy.
Arjen followed his sister's eyes and also landed on the row of servants, but he just looked at them and did nothing. Sora was busy enjoying suffocating herself with her newly fond pillow, and didn't bother to listen to Arien.
"The only time they're not there is when we are asleep," Arien continued. She stared at Sora who laid beside her on the bed, her lips formed a nonchalant smile.
Arjen this time nodded to Arien's comment, gesturing that he agreed with her statement.
"Do you think the emperor ordered this?" Arein asked, sighing for the 3rd time this noon and flipping her body to make her back lie on the bed.
"Probably," Arjen hummed, placing his hands under his chin to lift his head up as he glanced at Sora.
He moved his hand over his sister's velvety blonde hair, running his hand through it. Sora didn't speak a word or make a sound, just letting her brother do as his wishes with her hair, twirling it in his fingers and seeing all the knots that were revealed. Arjen moved some of Sora's hair out of the way of her neck and his eyes darkened after seeing what was on Sora's right shoulder.
Two moles that sat on her porcelain skin, covered slightly by scar slashes. They weren't obvious, but you still could see them.
Noticing that her brother wasn't speaking, Sora turned her head to face Arjen, who felt that his sister had moved and looked up. Her expression was soft but tired and she glanced at her brother with wandering eyes. Arjen didn't say a word, but gave Sora a gracious smile.
Arien sat there in silence, watching how her siblings could be so intimate with each other even when they didn't speak. But after a while, she groaned in annoyance. Arien was tired of just sitting here doing nothing and wanted to get up and move around!
"Why can't we leave! I want to go outside and run in the fields!" Arien exclaimed, huffing her shoulders to be intertwined.
"Oh come on Arien, don't you think this is nice? Doing nothing," Sora said, finally deciding to make a sound of the silence.
Arien shot a look at her sister, and grumbled. "Sora, It's boring! What fun do you see in nothing? So why aren't you complaining?!"
Sora lightly shrugged her shoulders and lied down on the bed in a relaxed position, staring up at the white ceiling. "Can't I get a break? You know, dealing with all this is tiring," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she said it outloud.
"... I guess that's true." Arien couldn't say anything wrong about that.
The life that they're trying to live in right now was difficult not to be stressed and worn out, but it wasn't much different from before. The only big difference would be that in the past, there was at least someone that actually cared and loved the three siblings.
'Mother...'
Arien recalled how their late mother would carry her toddler body in her arms. Her warm embrace that filled Arien's body made her heart flutter. How soft her expression was when she looked at Arien and her siblings. The love and care that glistened in her eyes when she looked down at her children, even when they looked so broken and hollow from life.
Oh how did they look identical to Sora's, inseparable even. You could place the two together, their eyes would look exactly the same. The only noticeable difference was their gaze.
Their mother's gaze had already given up, submitted and accepted that her life is how it is. While Sora still has her bloom. The flower may already wilted for being out too long, but it's not dead. Her eyes still spark with curiosity to interesting new things, and to a certain extent, still cares to live and explore her world.
Arien turned her head over again, facing Sora eye to eye, and sighed for the fourth time. Arien's eyes glanced over Sora's figure and at Arjen, who was lying right beside Sora and playing around with her hair.
Arjen closed her eyes and was about to take a nap break until a voice called out to them.
"Imperial Prince, imperial p-princesses." One of the maids seemed to notice the siblings' boredom and with all the fibre she had left in her body, spoke up. "W-we can escort you to the garden if you want," she suggested.
Her hands slightly shook when she thought of all the rumours about the young princess swirling around the palace. She was in fear that if she did anything to piss off the princess, she would be worse off than dead. So the maid wanted to please the youngest princess's sister, seeing that she was much more kind hearted and carefree.
'Garden = outside..!?'
When Arien heard the words 'backyard' come out of the maids mouth, her eyes shot up with sparkles, widening at the thought of being free outside.
"WE'LL GO!"
Finally she could get out of this stuffy room! Sora on the other hand... well, stared at the maid with a glare, sending shivers throughout her body. 'Why outside now? Can't you people see it's boiling?!'
Of course, Sora never said it out loud and the maid just stood there shaking, wondering what she did wrong to earn a death glare from the princess, did she do the wrong thing?
Arjen, who was watching this scene play out, chuckled softly and patted Sora's back.
"Don't worry Sora, it won't be that bad," he comforts, trying to sound sorry for his sister.
"Shut up, Arjen." Sora turned around and shot a glare at Arjen, but it didn't fright him. The corner of her eyes started to water, quivering slightly. "You don't understand my pain!" Sora dramatically fell on the bed sheets, placing a hand over her eyes. Arjen could see Sora bite her lip, shaking.
"Pfft- Okay then." Arjen held in his urge to laugh at his sister pretending to pass away.
Arien was off the bed, on the floor and was beaming out sunshines and rainbows. She was in her own looloo land and could care less what was going on with her two other siblings.
***
"Woahh...!!" Arien's eyes shot wide open, stars started to shimmer in her eyes. She was stunned by the beauty and fluorescence of the garden that she was roaming in.
"Tch, this isn't even anything," Sora mumbled under her breath, huffing herself away in annoyance.
"Is there something wrong, your imperial princess?" the maid that was carrying Sora asked. Her hands shook continuously, unable to stop, but she held her arm still in fear of pissing the princess that she was carrying.
Sora's heterochromia eyes glanced up at the maid. Seeing that her expression was shaking and trying to hold in the urge to burst into tears, Sora chuckled. "No," she admitted bluntly, but Sora was lying through her teeth.
Sora didn't want to admit it, but she was a bit salty.
She also used to have a garden, well more like a lab for experiments, but still. Her's was much more lively and rich in colors and types. Green vines that spread across the place, reaching over to every corner, wrapping itself around everything that they could reach. Abundant patches of flowers that grew in fields which spread across the lands of green luscious grass. The place was filled with color and the sweet aroma that came from the plants, mesmerising even.
It was a much more beautiful garden compared to this.
But Sora couldn't lie, this place was...nice.
No smell of smoke or chemicals. It was fresh. The sun gave the grasslands a healthy amount of light and it gave off a nice scent of the flowers' soft fragrance. Birds glided freely across the blue sky, gleaming small shadows across the grass plane, it made flickers of black over objects from below.
Sora closed her eyes and took a small breath in. The airomatic air was fresh and clear, something new to her senses that were always covered with the stench of heavy perfume, alcohol and smoke.
"It's beautiful! There are many different types of flowers that I've never seen before!" Arein exclaimed, hopping from one place to another. She looked like a rabbit that saw millions of carrots around her and was too overjoyed.
Arjen was impressed, being stunned that Rurahel's garended was nothing compared to this greenland. But he wasn't over shocked like his sister, being only interested in some flowers and seeing how pollution hasn't taken over this place.
"Tch," Sora clicked her tongue in annoyance, being bothered by the fact that Arien and Arjen were having way too much fun in this shitty place, the place where the emperor owned. "I could have shown you two something way better."
Arien knew that Sora wasn't enjoying the experience in this temperature, but she couldn't help but to forget her sister for a moment and enjoy her freedom for a moment, even if there were eyes still watching her every move.
Arien's laugh resounded through both Arjen and Sora's ears. Her brightly shone smile that could compare with the sun's rays, only showed to others that she was overjoyed to be out. Arien ran her hand through the row of flowers placed in a line, perfect for her to run beside the beds and let her hand pick a few flowers on the way.
Petals detached from the stems of the flowers and blobs of multi-colored fragrance blew everywhere. They swirled around Arien from the air's motion that it blew in. Arien laughed cheerfully as she twirled around with the petals of blooming color surrounding her. The frizzles on her dress picked up, spinning in a circular motion with her twirling.
Arien felt like she could finally breathe again.
Arjen watched his sister set her emotions free, expressing her feelings and enjoyment from this. Her golden blonde hair followed her figure as she twirled and skipped in joy. How the sunlight that was being shone on her locks reflected, making her surroundings gleam with gold and life.
The sight was absolutely a new thing for Arjen to see.
It opened his eyes to see a side of his sister that he hasn't seen in...forever. The wide smile plastered on Arien's face, no faking, truly she was happy.
Arjen chuckled, and for the first time in a while, he wanted to show how he wanted to feel. "Arien! Let's make a flower crown," he suggested. Arjen's tone was bright and he gave his sister a soft but childish grin. "Let's enjoy this while we can."
"Ah sure!" Arien's smile rose even wider as she heard Arjen calling out to her and wanting to play together. She happily skipped over to her brother, humming a tune as she crouched down next to him.
The two of them started to pick some flowers from the beds and Sora just watched from the side. Seeing that her siblings were actually showing their childish sides that they could never let out -in both lives- Sora felt a wave of relief and gladness rush over her.
She threw away her saltiness and decided to let it go for once. Sora wanted to enjoy this time along with her siblings, peacefully. Letting out a breath she held in for way too long, Sora could maybe take a small break from everything of this horrid and dark world.
"Do you prefer the yellow or pink flower more, Arjen?" Arein moved two different colored flowers beside her brother's cheeks, seeing which color fitted Arjen more. "Arjen."
"Yeah." Arjen looked in the corner of his eyes and the two options. The yellow flower was pretty, but the pink one just looked better on him, making his skin glow and shimmer under the light. He closed his eyes and hummed, "the pink one."
Arien looked at her brother's resting face, how his expression was so soft, much more friendlier than his personality and tone. But generally, his closed eyes and light plum lips that were not frowning or smiling, it made him look so at peace, for once.
It was rare for Arien not to see her two siblings be very stern and stoic most of the time -with all the things they went though and what they had to do to keep the three of them alive, in both lives- so she was glad that they could indeed be caring and warm.
"Then let me make a flower crown for you!" Arien exclaimed, her voice was sweet and sugary towards Arjen, but her expression dropped slightly after glancing at the reflection that was shown in a jewellery piece Arjen had on his chest. "Arjen, why are there so many servants here? Sora only needs one to carry her."
Arjen opened his eyes, fluttering his lashes and slowly getting used to the brightness once again. He looked at the bundle of different pink colored flowers in Arien's hand and nodded. "Okay," Arjen agreed, wanting a flower crown made from his sister.
But hearing Arien's telepathy message, Arjen glanced past his sister's figure and his eyes landed on the row of servants that stood there behind the one maid that carried Sora in her arms. There were three other servants there, not one was needed but they continued to stand there having their head lowered so others couldn't see their face clearly.
"Yeah...And they haven't blinked once."
Arien sweatdropped but still continued to stick and bind stems of flowers together to form a circle. She wondered why the servants were even when they were going to let them play outside. Arien wanted to be alone with Arjen and Sora, so why couldn't that leave them alone for once.
Arien's mood dropped and suddenly felt as if she no longer was actually outside. "Woah...it's so pretty~." Arien tried her best to sound interested as before, but all her ecstatic emotions were thrown down the drain.
Arjen wasn't one to be affected by others and their presence, but seeing his sister's expression and smile drop along with her beaming tone, he also felt a little bummed. "Yeah..."
'This is getting strangely uncomfortable...' Arien looked around the area and wanted to see if there was a way to escape the sight of the servants and freely enjoy the outdoors with her siblings in peace.
But her thoughts and plan both disappeared when a tall, over shadowing figure stood behind Arjen. Arien only saw the person's shoes until a voice was heard, and it wasn't any of her siblings.
"What are you three doing here?" a light but raspy voice was heard calling out.
Arien, with interest and familiarity, looked up at the towering figure and found their expression to be every so eerie and she felt like she had seen this person before.
The wind blew gently, picking up its warm covering breeze. Long, golden blonde hair blew slightly behind the figure and it shimmering under the sunlight. With its end tied up in a bow, the figure had locks that reached to their back.
"You look like you are having fun."
With another sentence said, Arien could feel the lightbulb in her mind light up.
'Wait a minute...'
Arien recognised that face...and their devilish sweet tone. 'The crazy noble!'
Arien's face lit up from figure it out and she looked the man up and down. He was indeed the same person who confronted them on that chilly night, the posture, height and voice all matched, but when did he get golden hair!?
Arien's brain -in a long time- started to turn her gears around and try and figure out what was going on. There were only two options; one, the man dyed his hair, either with magic or hair dye -If it was invented yet- second being...
'No way in hel-'.
But once again, Arien's thoughts were cut off by the man speaking. He gave a slight bow, with his arm over his chest and left foot behind his right. "Let me properly introduce myself this time. I am the-"
"Arien, Arjen. What's with this crazy guy doing here all of a sudden?" The man was rudely interrupted by another person, being Sora who just noticed that she could sense there was another pig in the area.
And Sora being Sora, she opened her eyes and decided to see who bothered her siblings free time. She was met with a beam of light shoved in her face, making Sora cover her eyes on instinct with an arm.
A very feminine man, around 5'7 in height that towered over Arien and Arjen, long blond hair and a tone that would change depending on who they spoke to, Sora definitely knew that it was the crazy person they met on the tree branch that one night.
But why was he suddenly a blonde?
And then it hit Sora, faster than her sister. Sora felt like a lightly bolt just struck through her. She was related to this guy, really? Out of all people, it just had to be coincidentally a crazy man.
Sora shook her head and sighed in disbelief. She was just so disappointed.
Couldn't the emperor find a better kid? She just didn't want to be related to a family full of idiots and crazy people. It just seems like the emperor has some shitty sperm.
While Sora was busy sighing at the fact she was related to someone like the stranger, crazy, Arien and Arjen sat there stunned, not moving a muscle. They stared at their sister with questions and disbelief of stupidity.
'Why would you do that?!'
Both Arien and Arjen were somehow smart enough to figure out that the stranger they met on a tree branch was a relative of theirs, having the imperial trait of blonde hair and god-like beauty -even making the stranger look like a female if it weren't for his voice and Arjen looking at his stature.
So the two were internally panicking from their dear sister. Arien wondered if they were going to be executed for interrupting someone from the royal family, even when her sister was the one who did it.
Arien sent a pleading look to her sister, wanting for her to have a plan or just beg the guy for mercy, but Sora gave Arien a clueless face and her eyes travelled back, locking on the blonde crazy man.
"Ah, you're the second prince of that bastard." Sora catched on pretty quickly and shook all the disappointment out of her head for the moment. She looked the prince up and down, his carefree stance and soft expression made her question if he was truly a prince of this empire. He was just too calm and his figure gave some things away to Sora and her sharp gaze.
She lifted her head up once again and glared into the eyes of the prince that stood in front of her. "Your name is what now?" Sora pointed at his forehead with her index finger.
Her expression was stoic but her eyes were looking down on the prince. Having a parasol over her head, the shadow that it was casting made her expression even darker than intended. Sora's pair of heterochromia gleamed at drilled holes into the prince's body, she was trying to figure out what was this princely figure doing here, and trying to interact with her sister.
"Alexander Eugene Yuriana, the second prince of the Yuriana empire." The second prince, or you could call him Alexander, greeted Sora with the utmost polite tone and his stance also showed. His soft bow that he lowered to Sora made him look humble.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, dear sister." Alexander had no signs of being bothered by Sora's action and tone of voice that she showed to him.
The hostility that Sora showed under her eloquent words was definitely there, even the lowest of the low could tell that Sora had no respect whatsoever to Alexander. He just spoke well-mannered towards Sora and showed no signs of hatred or annoyance in both his actions and voice.
'Hah?'
Sora was taken back at how calm the second prince sounded to her harsh words, not even a sliver of burning hatred? Weird.
Though, his actions and words did remind Sora of something.
'Why does this feel like inces-'
Before Sora could finish her thoughts, Alexander knelt down on one knee in front of her.
Once again, Sora was taken back. Why was he showing respect to her like she was in a higher status than him? Sora stared at the man in front of her with a blank expression, but her mind was swirling around in circles in pure confusion.
It wasn't odd for someone to kneel in front of her, it wasn't new to do so. But instead of all the fear, envy or force that she always felt when someone did, the man in front of her was kneeling down in mutual respect... for once.
It was... weird, very weird.
"Your highness!" Sora's shoulders shivered after hearing a high pitched yell coming from behind her.
The maid that was carrying her was calling out to Alexander but it just so was the perfect pitch to scratch Sora's ear drums and make her jump in irritating discomfort.
Sora looked up at the woman holding her, and seeing that her lips separated from each other, she knew that the bitch was going to let another piercing screech.
"How could you kneel before those illegitima-!" But before the maid could finish her words, her lips parted further then normal and she didn't close them for a moment.
The painful and eerie silence was sliced from one sound and one sound only that echoed throughout everyone's ears.
CRACK!
The maid's expression froze for one moment, and only for that moment, after that, an even louder and stomach turning scratch was heard coming out from the woman's mouth. It was an ear scratching scream of pain, but Sora couldn't feel anything other than annoyance.
Lips parted from each other in an uncanny and inhuman way, it was like they were being forcefully pulled away. The maid's expression twisted and turned with every second and she couldn't stop the ear rapping scream she was creating.
Red, irony liquid trickled out from the corner of her parted lips. Starting out as droplets, then soon turning into a waterfall. The liquid just gushed out, more and more of her own brightly pigmented blood splattered down her apron and stained it red.
Alexander stood there, stunned. He knew what the maid was going to say, it was out of line and pissed him off, so he was going to shut her up with some scolding. But as soon as Alexander stepped out, wanting to call out the maid's rudeness and arrogance, but he stopped in his steps when he heard that crisp sound of a crack echo out.
Sora was once second quicker then Alexander. She was sitting in the arms of that exact annoying maid, and she was also in the perfect position to elbow her in the stomach.
So that's what she did.
And with one swoop, Sora's elbow bone met the maid's rib cage, making a satisfying crack, nice and clear for everyone to hear.
Sora heard a crack when her elbow met with the maid's rib cage, and was glad and amused at first, but hearing the screaming scratching her ear drums, she just wanted to shut the woman up.
The maid, after a few more seconds of screeching, fell to her knees on the ground and clutched her chest with pain that reached to her fingertips. The blood that stained the maid's apron, smudged the liquid all over her palm.
Though, this scene was painfully hard for others to watch, with the maid reaching out for someone, something to help her, but no one did. Other than Sora, who jumped onto the maid's back -which made another crack sound- then landed on the grass in front of the woman's body.
Sora glanced behind her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the dying woman on the floor. She felt nothing but a sense of familiarity. This scenario was kinda giving Sora deja vu.
'Why do I feel like I did this somewhere before...'
But she just shrugged it off and turned around, picking up the parasol off the ground that laid beside the begging maid. The sun was going to burn her skin off, and Sora didn't want that, her skin was delicate and precious.
Alexander stared at the little girl, opening the parasol in her hand and covering her figure with the shade that it provided. She just murdered a woman -nearly- and she didn't even flinch, not even a panic. Is it because she was Alexander's sister and had his father's genes? Was she always like this, crazy like his brothers?
The first time Alexander saw his youngest siblings, they looked so tiny and even frail, they would snap and shatter like glass if you held them too tight.
He wondered to himself, 'how were these children treated to be like this?'.
He felt sorry for his siblings. What was weird, his youngest sister was completely stern and stoic, not even slightly afraid of him, not a flinch. Even when he released his mana, she was standing there like nothing happened.
She looked menacing, with her heterochromia eyes piercing into his eyes, like the blade of a knife being slid across his skin. She had no fear or remorse, it was just too freaky for a 5 year old to have a glare like that.
And when she threw those thin, metal needles at him, it hurt. A lot. It was like his body was getting even weaker than it was. Something was draining him of his energy, his legs felt weak to his already shattered soul.
He even had to get medical help from the imperial doctors to help with the pain that never disappeared, right after he teleported away from his three younger siblings. The doctors did everything they could, healing, holy power and even his father, then emperor, came to see him, but he couldn't do anything either.
They had no clue of the source of his pain and how to cure it, but they also couldn't find any trace of something that would cause this pain. It was like it dissolved as soon as it met with his skin...Like poison that melted into his skin, blood...body.
'How can she do this with no hesitation? She's so young' That was Alexander's thoughts, seeing at the horrid scene that was acted in front of him, like a free play.
But seeing his younger sister's stoic and blank expression, it confirmed his thoughts that she was psychopathic like his father and brother. She was strong and brutal with her attacks. Even with a frail body like that.
"Sora! Are you okay?!" Arien ran straight to her sister, lunging herself into Sora's embrace. Arien saw what Sora did, but she couldn't care, her sister might be hurt!
Arien checked Sora up and down for any wounds or any discomfort that she might feel. Sora sweatdropped at Arien's worried face and hurried actions to see if she was hurt in any way.
"I'm fine, Arien," Sora reassured.
She ruffled Arien's hair and chuckled, but her eyes glanced back at the row of servants still standing there. They were still bowing down, but their body was shaking uncontrollably in fear.
Sora 'tsked' and gestured for the servants to leave. "Well, what are you pigs still doing here? You're disturbing me and my siblings."
"Y-yes princess!" The servants all hurried out of Sora's sight in fear of being hurt like their coworker that was still dying on the floor.
There were rumours going around that the youngest princess was a crazy psychopath. That she got rid of whoever bothered her into dust, with no consequences.
At first, servants from around the palace all gossiped about the rumours, saying it was just fake and no way an illegitimate child could do something like that. But how they were wrong. The servants who hadn't passed on that day of when Sora had a little outburst, confirmed all the rumours were true and she was even more horrifying in person.
Some still didn't believe them, but when they saw, first hand, what the princess did right in front of their eyes, it confirmed to them that the rumours were correct. The youngest princess was indeed a psychopath.
They did not want their death to be at the hands of a 5 year old, and in a brutal, slow way.
Arien sighed at the tactics her sister used to shoo the servants away, but she couldn't do anything, Sora was always like that. It was good that all the servants were gone, but the second prince was still there, standing still beside Arjen, who just sat through everything that just happened with a blank face.
Arien found the silence to be quite awkward. And Arien having Sora hold her as she stared at the second prince, the two girls were on one side and the two boys were on the other.
"Arien, Sora."
Arien, who was getting numb from standing there in silence, looked over at her brother with a raised brow. "Hm?"
"Wasn't the second prince only ten years old?" Arjen questioned, placing a finger on his lips.
He recalled the history book Ishian had given them to study and one chapter was dedicated to the second prince. One page specifically mentioned that the second prince -prince Alexander- was only 10 years of age.
"...WHAT!?" It took a second for Arien to process what her brother had told her.
The second prince was ONLY 10?!
He looked at least 16. His height, looks and figure, no way he was 10!
"Is something wrong?" Alexander asked, wondering why Arien suddenly yelled in surprise.
Arein shook her head frantically, trying to move on to the next topic. "N-no...nothing is wrong..!"
"I see. But I'm glad you are finally speaking to me." Alexander had an imaginary shine of blinding light coming from his back. He sounded much brighter than before and was giving Arien an eerily diabetic smile.
"Pfft, did you not know, Arien?" Sora chuckled at Arien's reaction to finally realising something so simple. "The royal family has some weird growth spurt times. So they look older than their actual age, or look younger than their actual age. Until a certain age, then they stop ageing," Sora informed her uncultured sibling.
"Hey! You can't say that, Sora! I'm not like you who read books and is smart!"
Sora snorted at Arein's defence. "You're just lazy."
"My dear little siblings, may I ask for your names?" Alexander asked. He never got the siblings' names so he didn't know what to call them.
Arien looked over at her sister for a signal, since she didn't want to do anything stupid again. Sora sighed at Arien's puppy eyes and hesitantly nodded.
"Arjen."
"Arien."
Alexander smiled brightly after hearing a response to his question, he turned his head to face Sora and gave her a sweet smile. Sora didn't say anything for a moment, she looked at Alexander -who looked like he really wanted to know her name- and sighed.
'And what happened to my walls'.
"Sora."
"Sora?" Alexander looked quite confused, he had never heard of the name 'Sora' before. Did it come from another language?
"Stop asking more questions and shut up, just call me Sora," she snapped, getting pissed at the fact that Alexander got what he wanted and now wont shut up.
"If that is what you wish." Alexander understood that his sister would much more preferred for others to call her by the name 'Sora'. He knew that Sora wasn't her real name, but if his sister doesn't want her name out, then he shall respect it.
"Well then, Arjen, Arein, Sora. How does it feel to be at the beautiful place that set those lights you mentioned when we first met?" It was a really odd question for Alexander to ask, paired with his oblivious gaze.
Sora looked up at Alexander with a questioning gaze. 'What the heck is he blabbering about'.
Arien picked up the question Alexander asked and raised a brow. It was strange. She remembers Sora saying that on the night they met, but why did he bring it up? To be fair, they were still illegitimate children from the prince's point of view, so it would be completely reasonable for him to ignore the three.
It could just be curiosity.
He could be curious about the siblings that suddenly appeared one morning, or the strangers that are trespassing into his territory.
Arien didn't get it. Why was he being nice to them?
Alexander looked down at the three siblings with softened eyes, the two twins were glaring at him with unfazed glances and the youngest, Sora, had her eyes shut in a motion of fatigue, standing close to the twins and having the parasol sit over her head.
He saw that they still didn't trust him, not even a little. "...I hope you like this place," his voice sounded desperate but sincere. Alexander wanted the three siblings to live comfortably at the palace, but it seems like that is not possible.
"My name... you can just call me Alec. Since we're family, I would like it if we could call each other by our nicknames." If Alexander knew that the siblings would not open up any time soon, he'd like it if they could at least call each other by their nicknames, it makes them sound closer than they actually are.
Unknowingly to Alexander, he triggered some strings on Arien. 'Family'. Arien almost gagged after hearing that word coming from Alexander's mouth. She bit her lower lip, tightly. 'This person doesn't know... anything'.
"Can you tell me your nicknames?" Alexander asked, slightly extending his hand out towards the three. It seemed that he didn't catch on to the gloomy aura going on in the tension in the air.
Arien was busy getting her head back together with what Alexander just spewed out and Sora looked like she was just resting her eyes, but in reality, she had already dozed off to her slumber from being drained.
Arjen sighed and took on the responsibility to answer Alexander's question, also he was just getting tired of the taller male staring at him with sparkling sappy puppy eyes. "We don't have any," Arjen confronted, stating the very obvious truth.
How are you even supposed to shorten their names even more? The siblings didn't really need or ever think about using nicknames. And if they even did, there was no use. The three had swore not to bring up their past when it was no longer needed and important, so nicknames were also crossed out.
After all, the only time when the three siblings actually used nicknames, was in the past, they have no use for their names to be shortened.
"Ah." Alexander sweatdropped. He didn't know that Arjen would answer so bluntly and in such a monotone voice. It took him back a little. "It's probably because your names are already pretty... isn't that right?" He tried to lighten the mood up by trying to convey in his words that he was complementing the siblings' names.
"All of my brothers were named by their mother, but you three were the only ones who were named by father..." Alexander's voice lowered in volume. It almost sounded like he was envious of the three.
Envy?
Arien looked down at her feet, shuffling them closer together. Arjen's eye twitched, he suddenly had an urge to punch Alexander and beat some sense into him, but he didn't. He held in his anger and took in some breaths, still clutching his fist, tightly.
Arjen didn't want to act rashly like his sister, it'll just cause too many problems for him and he already has to deal with his two sisters, he didn't want more headaches.
While Arjen was handling the situation quite calmly, Arien wasn't taking it as well as her brother. Holding in her angered tears, Arien placed more pressure onto her lips as she bit down.
'Why does he sound like he was envious of us?' Arien thought, biting down on her lower lip even harder.
They've suffered just because of these stupid names and their blood that circulates in their veins. How dare he even be envious of them... when he knew NOTHING about how they have suffered.
"Yes..." Arein could barely reply, only spitting it out through gritted teeth.
There was really no difference, it was only a name that the man who nearly murdered them at birth gave. If it was truly that special, if it was truly worth that much envy from a damn prince, the emperor should have at least let them grow till of age and just kick them out.
Arien knew that her siblings didn't need to be filthy rich to live a decent life, they just needed to grow old enough for them to fend for themselves. So why not give them money and leave us be!?
If the emperor really did go all the way to name Arien and her siblings, keeping them alive until now, why not raise them then? And if he actually flinged with Rurahel, he should have known what kind of person she was, so why still place the care of your own children in the hands of someone you knew was a shitty person.
Arien clenched down on the flower crown that was in her hand. She originally wanted it to be for Arjen, with the pink flowers he chose to be weeded into it, but with all the anger that was bubbling inside of her, she had to release it somehow without pouring it all out at once.
But Arien didn't notice how much pressure she was placing in her hand, and she felt a prick on her palm.
"?! AHH!" Arien dropped the flower crown, her eyes shook at the sight of her palms becoming red. All she could see were red flowing out from tiny holes pierced into her skin.
Arjen heard his sister's cries and shot his head over to her. "Arien!?" Arjen held his sister's hand in his two hands, examining it with shaky, but precise eyes.
Under the shade of a parasol, violet and red eyes narrowed after eyeing the blonde prince. Sora was resting her eyes for a moment, since her energy was depleted. She was in dream land, reliving the scenes of her past over again like a tape being displayed on a screen. But right before she could dream to the good part, her slumber was awoken and disrupted with a whine of squealing pain.
Sora shot her eyes open and snapped out of her slumber to see what happened for the few minutes she closed her eyes, and to her surprise, her sister was holding her hand closer to her chest, shutting her eyes as her face paled.
Arien clutched onto her hand tightly, her skin even forming slight colors of blue and purple. "M-my hand...!"
"You must've gotten bit by a bug on one of the flowers. Come here, I'll heal it for you." Alexander gestured and stepped closer to the wincing Arien, holding out his hand for her to hold. To Alexander, he was trying to help his little sister though the pain, but too Sora, he was being a pest.
A bug that needed to be exterminated.
Sora rushed over to Arien's side. She wanted to push Alexander away, but she was a second late, the bug had already bitten into the flesh. The second prince had seen Arien's scars that scattered over her skin.
"What is this?" Alexander's voice darkened from his usually sappy tone and his eyes narrowed. He furrowed his brows after looking at each and every scar that was placed on her arm.
Arien felt as if a shadow was being casted over her, and as she looked up, a large hand was hovering over her hand. It crept closer and closer, so close to her face. It was coming to grab her.
In fright, all Arien could do at that moment was shut her eyes in hopes one of her siblings would come and save her, like they always would.
Arjen, who was right beside Arien's side, tried to extend his hands towards his sister to push her out of the way, but his arms were too short and stubby and could only graze Arien's shoulder ever so slightly.
Splat.
"...Huh?" Arien waited for the hand to grab her and take her away, but nothing, she did feel anything. There was no movement so Arien fluttered her eyes open, wanting to see what happened. But as soon as she opened her eyes to see the outside, Arien took a step back in shock and her eyes widened at the sight of the second prince on the floor
Face first on the grass.
...
What?
"Tsk, you bitch, what were you trying to do to Arien?" Sora spat, twisting her foot deeper into Alexander's back, digging her shoe's heel into the prince's skin.
Her heterochromia eyes narrowed down at the prince under her foot twitches every time she pressed harder down. Alexander's face was being pressed down into the ground and his body lying flat on the grass. Sora stood on top of his lying body, with a parasol still in hand, covering her figure in a casted shadow.
What was Arjen and Arien looking at right now..?! Their bat shit crazy sister standing on the back of a prince, with his limp body being compressed into the ground. Alexander's body stopped moving after a while but Sora didn't budge from her spot.
Arien blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes, then blinked a few more times. She wasn't seeing this wrong, right? Weren't they supposed to be the ones that should be in pain?
Arjen who stood beside Arien, was originally panicking of what Alexander would do to his sister, but after seeing the sense that was displayed in front of him, all his worries faded away and the only thing that stayed was the unimpressed/tired expression he had on.
Sora proudly huffed high into the sky, she was very proud of what she had accomplished. She looked down at a single card that she held in her free hand.
Uno reverse card, Sora always had one.
[]
Finally finished editing this chapter😭
It's fucking 7473 words long😀 How did I change a 3000+ word chapter to 7000+ words?
Anyways, like always, don't pay attention to any grammar or spelling mistakes, I only have two brain cells, two of them are fried from school✌
I'll try and hurry up updating the posted chapters so I can get on to posting new ones.
But till then, hope you all get some sleep😊